America... Land of the free?

This is something that I have been struggling with, over the last few days. A friend’s casual remark, that called America the land of the free, was what set it off.

I’ve been spending a lot of time on reddit, especially the economic sub-reddit, and am amazed at what I’ve been reading. Over the last few months, with the tanking of the stock market, and collapse of the banking sector, as well as the bail-out have been events, have been the source of lots of frenzied activity here. Not only are the articles informative, but the comments have been interesting. What has been surprising is how pro-market the redditors are, but at the same time, they want stronger regulation by the regulatory bodies. This was just the starting point for my quest.

Their Anthem, might call them the land of the free, but I’m quite skeptical, just how true it is. They might have declared that all men are created equal, but somehow that did not include women and blacks for quite some time.

America has done quite a lot of stupid things when it comes to freedom. And I’m not talking about the things done by G.W.Bush. Remember a guy called Joseph McCarthy? Or remember what happened to the Japanese people living in America during WW2?

Nor is America very free when it comes to sex and what not. If you look at their codes, to prevent the corruption of the Youth, like the Hays Code or the Comics Code Authority, you’ll be surprised. Things got so out of hand, that the authorities were not allowing the publication of a comic, because it mentioned that the story was told by a wolfman. Never mind that the name of the story teller was Marv Wolfman.

And if you look at the things they are doing with respect to science, it’s even scarier. Just yesterday, the Illinois legislature, declared that Pluto was a planet, as far as Illinois was concerned. In other news, in Oklahoma legislature a resolution was proposed, banning Richard Dawkins from speaking at a University.

There is this strange belief that somehow, America, is very special in the world because of its History and ideals and freedom. It is called American exceptionalism. I’m thinking more and more that it might be a lot of propaganda, and you know what? I’m not the only one.

What Just Happened?

Convalescing from a severe bout of Flu, I am surprisingly at home today. I caught the news that a new Terrorism bill has been introduced in parliament and I had to check it out. And I am shocked!
Check out http://www.rediff.com/news/2008/dec/16mumterror-features-of-the-proposed-national-investigation-agency.htm

They have put in a small point at the end, expecting most people would not read down till there. Go read it again. Ok I’ll mention it here, incase you haven’t still got it.
Court shall presume, unelss contrary is shown, that accused has committed offence
Have you digested that? Let me repeat it, in case you still haven’t got it. Court shall presume, unelss contrary is shown, that accused has committed offence.

Do you see how scary it is? We used to think that the BJP/NDA was the scary one, with total disregard for human rights and civil liberties. The congress has once again proved, how it can be even scarier.

If you think I am getting all hyper about something trivial, let me introduce to something called Presumption of innocence or innocent until proven guilty.

What this principle basically means that the accused is presumed to be innocent, until the prosecution proves beyond doubt that the person is guilty. The burden of proof, lies on the accuser, not on the accused.

This has been valid for a long time, and is the basis of most of modern law. It is one of the most important principle in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which says that Everyone charged with a penal offence has the right to be presumed innocent until proved guilty according to law in a public trial at which they have had all the guarantees necessary for their defence.

Now do you get why the new law is so scary? Suppose you are sitting in train, and you make small chat with the guy next to you. Later that guy goes and does something heinous. The police can just say that you were aiding him, and hence you are now a terrorist. Now it is your job, to prove that you are innocent.

Well actually as they have put it, they don’t even have to say anything. If you are charged under this, then you will be automatically sentenced, unless you prove otherwise. Guilty by association, was never this easy.

Maybe I am reading a simplified version of the bill, or it has been dumbed-down in the article. But as it stands, that is one hell of a shocker.

I don’t even understand how that is valid under the constitution, and maybe other people will scrutinise it further, and throw more light on it. I am going to watch, what happens in the next few days, very closely.